GAMES FOR KIDS Super Cars
CARS IS probably the closest thing Pixar has had to a critical flop. It isn’t, obviously. Its Rotten Tomatoesscore of 74 per cent is far from awful, but seeing as all of its other 11 movies have scored over 90 per cent (Toy Story 1and2 managed 100 per cent), it’s probably the one film that Pixar marks as ‘could do better’. But there’s just one catch. Since its 2006 launch Carshas generated almost $10bn in retail sales alone – and gone down a treat with children. “It wasn’t really expected to be something that big,” says Jay Ward, Pixar’s ‘franchise guardian’ for Cars. “When the first film came out we had a small initial offering of toys and some related things, and then this world of Carskept growing beyond the life of the film. Then the DVD came out and it got bigger again. This world of Carskept growing for years after the movie came out. It was pretty amazing.”
GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE It’s Ward’s job to make sure the Carsbrand is represented as it should be on duvet covers, on lunch boxes, in theme parks and, of course, in video games. “Carsis unique in the size of the scope of the franchise,” he says. “We have never had a person in- house at Pixar that does what I do now. “If something is related to Carsit needs to have the same level of quality and care and concern that we put into the movie. And if it doesn’t then it dilutes the whole thing, so we are pretty careful.” Since the 2006 movie there has been five Carsgames (including a free-to- play MMO), not to mention the incoming Cars 2movie tie-in. The
game is a key component to Pixar’s merchandise plan, and the studio behind last year’s hit Toy Story 3 game – Avalanche Software – is on development duties yet again. With Ward, of course, keeping a close eye on things.
“I have done a lot of work with
Avalanche,” says Ward. “The studio is very respectful of the Cars property and doesn’t want to do anything that lets us down from a Pixar standpoint in terms of quality. So the team was really good about working back and forth and making sure we were good with it. “The challenge in the Carsworld is that yes, these are cars, but they are also characters. They have
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As one of the biggest kids’ properties, Cars is approaching $10bn in retail sales. With a new film and game around the corner, Christopher Dring speaks to Pixar’s Jay Ward to find out what makes it such a success with children
If something is related to Cars it needs to have the same level of quality we put into the film. Jay Ward, Pixar
personalities. In your typical driving game you are just looking at the back of your car for the whole time. So the challenge was getting the face time with the Carsin there. “You will notice in the next game lots of opportunities where the camera spins round and you can see the front of the car. “And you will see the character’s expression as you drive along. That
was a big thing I pushed with the team at Avalanche.” Carswas very much an American film, but the upcoming movie takes place around the globe. It gives the movie a much larger audience in which to sell toys, games and
merchandise to. Both Disney and Pixar are confident that
Carsthis year will eclipse what Toy Story managed last year, and that’s generated in excess of $2.5bn. Pixar isn’t known for doing things for commercial reasons. 2009’s Up was a heart-wrenching story of an old man who had lost his wife. Hardly a money-spinner. But with Carsthe studio has been accused of ‘selling out’. So is Cars 2nothing more than just a glorified advert to sell toys?
“It has to be a movie first,” says
Ward. “It has to tell a great story. These things are only related to it and worth doing if people see the movie. If you don’t do a great movie then none of it means anything.”
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